The floods in the Midwest have continued and I include some information where I can in the Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin sections. Best of luck to all readers in the hard hit areas.

This week I return to an issue I discussed before: Republican cronies litterally killing our troops with no government oversight. This week Democratic Sentor Bob Casey is demanding an investigation of the electrocutions due to bad wiring that have been plaguing our military bases managed by a Hallibruton subsidiary. More below.

This week's newsletter includes another discussion about the Republican neglect of our infrastructure. Since I wrote it two more levees have failed, flooding Des Moines, which aren't included in my analysis. If you want to help the Midwest, you can go here.

Turning to the election, the attacks have begun in earnest. Republicans rolled out a whole slew of attacks against Barack and Michelle Obama...some borderline racist, some merely lies, and none all that effective. In most states Obama's popularity has surged such that if the election were held today, Obama would easily win with over 300 electoral votes, just like Senator Chuck Schumer predicts will happen. But keep in mind, this is just the first volley of attacks.

The primary is over and our nominee is Barack Obama.

This was going to be a historic moment no matter what. Once the field narrowed to Obama and Clinton, we KNEW we would make history. We would have either the first black or first woman nominated for President by one of the two major parties. Well, THIS, folks, is history. Real and amazing history. We have now done what our parents couldn't do.

This coming week is a big primary in California. This week I highlight some of the progressives running in that primary and I hope my California readers will consider helping them out. Focusing on these kinds of local elections is so critical, yet so neglected. In California this week we have the chance to elect the next generation of progressive politicians.

This last week was the week when John McCain's campaign took a serious blow. Bob Barr, a Republican who is about as conservative as they get but who got fed up with Bush's war and invasion of civil liberties, has been nominated as the Libertarian Candidate for President. This potentially will hurt McCain big time...but we shall see.

This week a friend of ours threw his hat in the ring running for a judicial seat in Brooklyn and two Progressive Majority candidates I have been highlighting in Arizona (McCain's state, mind you) won historic victories in the Tempe and Maricopa City Councils. The progressive grassroots continues to grow and is actually winning some real, solid victories. And we all have been part of this, so conrgatulations to all who have been active in these victories.

I'm putting out a somewhat shorter newsletter this week. Been busy with work and family. But it has been a big week. The primary continues...and it is probably a good thing. Let's face it. The fierce primary between two such excellent candidates has raised Democratic voter registration to record highs and has brought out many new voters who, if we can maintain the momentum, will blow the Republicans away. This week's newsletter includes some statements from one of my Senators predicting such a rout of the Republicans in November.

One of the highlights of this week was a slapdown of a Texas Republican by a Wisconsin Democrat in the House during a debate over funding the Iraq Quagmire. Check out the video. It is wonderful to watch.

Another wonderful video is Chris Matthews, not someone I generally like, slamming a Republican for making references to Neville Chamberlain without having a clue of the real history. Parroting lame talking points is no longer working for the Republicans. Their gross ignorance is showing and even conservative talk show hosts are getting irritated by it.

Last week was the 5th Annniversary of Bush's idiotic "Mission Accomplished" moment. And John McCain tried defending Bush, blaming it on the Navy. This led to a considerable amount of attention on John McCain's own suggestion that we should stay in the Iraq Quagmire for 100 years. Howard Dean in particular slammed McCain for his willingness to sacrifice American soldiers for oil profits for 100 years. Poor John McCain didn't like having people pick on him, so John "wimp" McCain began whining and complaining about it. Well, Mr. McCain, if you can't take criticism of a stupid policy, how the hell are you going to stand up to al-Qaeda? Oh, yeah...just like Bush you plan on wasting time, money, and lives in Iraq for 100 years rather than actually fighting al-Qaeda, the people who attacked us.

This week was Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. It also was the fifth aniversary of Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech. This aniversary was unique in that for the first time the Bush administration has admitted that the banner was a huge mistake...though John McCain blamed it on the military, excusing Bush for the fiasco. The Republicans are finally acknowledgig the dismal failure of "Mission Accomplished" but refuse to take the blame. Typical. Absolutely typical. Republicans wouldn't know responsibility if it bit them in the ass.

The Progressive Democrat Newsletter grew out of the frustration of the 2004 election. I have try mixing my own rants and ideas, with national issues, news items, and some very local groups and events in an attempt to both help shape debate and to help people find their own ways of getting involved.

This week I discuss holiday shopping to match your values (alonovo.com), why nuclear energy is NOT a solution to Global Warming (a sort of preview of a review I will write about Paul Brown's new book on Global Warming), and discuss Pretty Bird Woman House woman's shelter on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. I also do a roundup of local progressive events for places where I have had the most readers over the last couple of weeks, including ways you can help win two special elections this coming Tuesday: OH-5 and VA-1. Don't forget to visit an advertiser or two and if you want more, please visit Culture Kitchen.

The diary below was originally posted in my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

My spare time is consumed by phone banking after work and weekends. Blogging has taken a back seat - true of many progressive bloggers as the campaign winds down. I live in Brooklyn, New York and almost every office I can vote for is not in doubt. In the `90s I earned a living largely by telemarketing. Hence, phone banking to help get out the vote in other states is the most sensible use of my time and skills prior to Election Day.

A conversation I had with a woman from Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Friday evening especially illustrates the challenges we face in getting out the vote this Tuesday. As with numerous others I've spoken to in recent days she was cynical and resistant to the idea of voting at all. We'll call her Jane.

As you know, much is at stake in our democracy these days - and my state of Ohio is now a major battlefield, and likely to continue to be so for the foreseeable future.

My years in the Marine Corps taught me to view life strategically. With that in mind, we must think strategically and act strategically in attacking this political challenge that lies before us with regard to religious extremism in both Ohio and the United States at large. Along with similarly concerned friends, neighbors and colleagues, I am starting a new project called Operation Ohio to sound the alarm to the threat of the theocratic political movement here in Ohio.

This concerns all Americans not only because this movement has roots in all states across America, but because Ohio will determine the direction of our country in 2008.

I need your help to get the project started.

Here is the problem as I see it.

Originally posted at Swing State Ohio.

Dictionary.com defines a pathological liar as "a person who lies to the point of it being considered a disease or condition, an abnormally habitual liar."


Most politicians tend to stretch the truth a bit while they are in office.  Whether is is George Bush's assertion that "Iraq has WMD's" or Bill Clinton's "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," examples can be found throughout American history.  The distinction lies in the last part of the definition quoted above: an abnormally habitual liar.

Cross Posted at Swing State Ohio

Subodh Chandra has a new campaign ad that is quickly gaining a lot of attention.  The video is a Simpson's spoof that compares Subodh to Apu and Marc Dann to Homer.  Click here to view the video.

Well the ODP Chair Forum was interesting tonight. Lieberman, Redfern, Gwinn, Eckart, Reece and Mitakides turned up.
Before I go any further, let me just say that whomever is the next chair, it won't be any worse - it might not be any better, but it definitely won't be worse. All the candidates had some good points, and if you could mash all their positives together we would have one hell of a chair.
The game however changed tonight. First, Chris, when everyone is blasting you for wanting to do 2 or 3 jobs at once the last thing you want to do is leave the debate 30 minutes early to go to a Christmas party ! That aint the message to be sending.
Then came the bombshell - Eckart endorsed Lieberman. I turned to a couple of folks "Did he just say what I thought he just said?". I confirmed it after the debate, where he also dropped the nugget that more endorsements are coming from the Cleveland area, including Tubbs-Jones.
If you take this news together with the news that Labor is going to be pissed at Redfern for taking Wal-Mart money - Lieberman just became the front runner and next ODP Chair.
He is probably the most rounded candidate, with Gwinn clearly a GOTV expert the next chair should tap to organize that effort statewide.
The funniest moment of the night came with the first mention of Ken Blackwell's name, whereupon all the mics in the Church got feedback and it sounded like a message from God - and kept happening for about 5 minutes. I don't know about you guys, but I think God was sending us a message. I'll have to run the tape back backwards to figure it out though.

More below.

As some will be aware the ineffective ODP Chair Denny white resigned, and the replacement is to be voted on by the Ohio Democratic Party Central Committee (137 members) on the 19th December.

Grass roots in Ohio pressured ODP to hold regional debate forums as part of the process of selecting the new chair. This would give everyone a chance to hear what each candidate has to say, what their plan would be and to be questioned on it.

ODP decline this opportunity, so grass roots organizations set about "Democracy for Democrats"